Martha Root set foot in South America for the first time, at Para (now Belém), Brazil. [MR93; MRHK44]
• See MR93-100 and MRHK44-59 for her teaching work in Brazil.

Leonora Holsapple Armstrong, the first Bahá'í pioneer in Latin America, arrived in Rio de Janeiro. She had departed New York on the SS Vasari on the 15th of January. [Baha'iBlog]
• See a talk by Kristine Ascunsion Young, the great-grand niece of Leonora Holsapple Armstrong. The discourse begins at about 2:30.

The first local spiritual assembly in Brazil was established in Bahia, with the assistance of Leonora Holsapple Armstrong.
• The second Local Spiritual Assembly was formed in Rio de Janeiro and, in 1946 the third, in São Paulo. [Biographical Profile]

It was neither her first nor her last pioneer experience. Between 1942 and 1946 she pioneered to Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil. After World War II she went to Madrid, Spain where she helped raise the first local spiritual assembly and she did the same thing in Barcelona the following year.

In July of 1953 she went to the Stockholm Intercontinental Teaching Conference where she offered to pioneer to Mallorca in one of the Balearic Islands, She stayed about one year before returning to Barcelona in August of 1954 where she attended the Iberian Teaching Conference that was attended by 60 people. Late that nine, she and nine others were arrested by the police and interrogated for 18 hours. They had thought that the Bahá'í were Communists.

In 1956 she moved to Portugal where she was elected to the first Iberian Regional Spiritual Assembly. After three years she was forced to leave by the authorities because of her Bahá'í activities, holding property and owning a telephone.

She was asked to go to Luxembourg where she spent nine years but made little progress in establishing the Faith. She was then asked to got to Malaga, Spain and by 1972 Malaga had a local spiritual assembly so she pioneered to Margella in 1979.

The National Spiritual Assembly asked her to write a history of the Faith in Spain which was completed in 1980.

As was her wish, she passed to the Abha Kingdom in 1985, still a pioneer. [KoB346-347; Wikipedia]

See also Also see Bahá'í World 19 pages 715-721 or 692-697 in the print version and Bahá'í News #586 January 1980 p2-5.

An International Teaching Conference was held in Bahia, Brazil, attended by 1,300 Bahá'ís, the largest such gathering of Bahá'ís to date in Brazil. [BW17:81; VV33]
• For the message of the Universal House of Justice see BW17:137–8.
• For pictures see BW17:110, 124–5.

The First Latin American Bahá'í Women's Conference was held in Brasilia at the Convention Centre.
• Leonera Armstrong, on her deathbed in Salvador, Bahia at the time, addressed the conference via a message recorded on cassette tape.
  Woman, light of the future generation - when we, the women of the world, reflect on the true meaning of this theme that was chosen and as its full meaning penetrates more and more deeply into the conscience of each woman, we must understand that affectionate, that supreme privilege is ours and that inescapable duty is ours, and so we must rise as never before, to fulfill our first obligation. Women know that they are the first educators of humanity ...
  [Biographical Profile]

Leonora Stirling Holsapple Armstrong, (b.June 23, 1895, Hudson, New York), the 'spiritual mother of South America' and the first Latin American pioneer, passed away in the city of Salvador in Bahia, Brazil. She had served on the Continental Board of Counsellors from her appointment in 1973. [Mess63-86p248; BW18:738; VV32]
• For her obituary see BW18:733–738.
• See Armstrong, Counsellor Leonora: A Loving Portrait by Kristine Leonard Asuncion. Brief biographical sketch of Counsellor Armstrong, the "Spiritual Mother of South America" .
• Bahá'í Blog.
• Wikipedia.
• Bahaipedia.
• See FMH40-41 for the story of how she was inspired to go pioneering as told to Doris and Willard McKay. (She had been a classmate of Willard's sister Marguerite at Cornell University.)

The National Spiritual Assembly of Brazil submitted proposals based on Bahá'í principles such as human rights to the National Constitutional Assembly drafting the new constitution. [BINS174:2]
• Favourable responses were received from 46 Senators and Deputies. [BINS174:2]

Ibsen Valls Pinheiro, President of the Federal Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, opened a special session of the Chamber called to observe the Centenary of the Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh, attended by 45 federal deputies. [BINS271:2; BW92–3:121]
• For picture see BW92–3:122. Note: VV133 says this was 29 May.

The Chamber of Deputies of the government of Brazil paid homage to Bahá'u'lláh. [Bahá'í Newsreel Volume 3 Number 2] [UHJMessage 30Mar92]
• The tribute to Bahá'u'lláh was paid at a plenary session of that body and following that session members joined Post Office officials in the formal launching of a commemorative postage stamp. [VV133]

Bahá'ís from many countries participated in the United Nations Conference on the Environment (UNCED), known as the Earth Summit, and the Global Forum for non-governmental organizations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. [BINS272:1–3; BW92–3:124; VV110]
• The Bahá'í International Community delegation was extremely active in the Global Forum, promoting a holistic approach in negotiations on the Earth Charter; as well, it was the only religious nongovernmental organization to make a statement to the Summit's plenary session.
• For a report of the Bahá'í involvement at the Earth Summit see BW92–3:177–89.
• For the text of the statement of' the Bahá'í International Community read at the plenary session see BW92–3:191–2.
• For pictures see BW92–3:179, 183, 186.

The Bahá'í Vocational Institute for Rural Women, a non-profit education project based in Indore, India, was one of 74 individuals and institutions presented with the United Nations Environment Programme 'Global 500' award in Rio de Janeiro. [BINS272:5; BW92–3:125; VV110]
• For picture see BW92–3:183.

In Brazil, eleven leaders of thought were invited to study and comment on the initial concept paper developed by the Institute (Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity). These comments were gathered in a book which was published and disseminated around the country and used to stimulate discussions in seminars with small groups of participants. [One Country Issue 3, Vol 17, Story 8]
• The book, edited by Iradj Roberto Eghrari, can be downloaded at Ciência, Religião e Desenvolvimento: Perspectivas para o Brasil (Science Religion and Development: Perspectives for Brazil)

Representatives from government, religious communities and civil society organizations were among the 800 human rights supporters who gathered to call upon Iran to cease its persecution of Bahá'ís and other religious minorities. Almost 8,000 images depicting the faces of Iran's seven imprisoned Baha'i leaders (Yaran) were on display on the Copacabana beach, corresponding to the number of days of detention the seven had suffered after three years in prison. [BWNS834]
• Photo 1, Photo 2, and Photo 3.